Culture , Experience, Identity: Contemporary : People

The Webster’s Dictionary defines the word contemporary to anything that occurs or exists at the same period of time. More often than not, the word contemporary is associated to music, culture and arts. Little is it understood with terms like society or modernisation except when used by historians or scholars. Anything which ranges from advancement in technology, working towards globalisation or women empowerment can be termed as a model in the realm of the contemporary world.

Personalities influence us in more than one ways and indeed they are a key role in deciding how the contemporary age differs or is similar to the present age. Every generation sees someone with a contemporary vision which differs from the rest. amPlus met Shwetha Ganesh Rao, a lady driving instructor from Sri Ganesh driving school and Guru Murthy, an ex lecturer in Manipal Institute of Communication (MIC) to get their views on the present and contemporary age.

Shwetha has been driving for the past nine years. She is working in Sri Ganesh since four years and has had varied experiences. She chose this as her first profession after her graduation. When enquired about why she chose this profession, zeal was her prompt reply. She has a passion for driving and loves to teach the same. She feels that being a woman makes her job easier as women are more patient and keep their cool when it comes to teaching. Her idea of being different by choosing such a profession was to prove to men that women are equally talented, smart and bold. She places herself in the present generation and says that it is easier to teach young people as they pick lessons quickly in comparison to the older people who take quite some time. Irrespective of the age, she thoroughly enjoys her work.

Lecturer Guru Murthy worked in MIC for five years. In his five years of experience he has seen himself in two varied generations and places himself in both of them. He is presently doing his PhD in two fields one of which is on the modern period and secondly a field work on pre-historic sites. He says that he admires the present generation because they have all the opportunities which his generation lacked. The present generation has greater knowledge and skills in what they do. They have a thirst for information and are mostly aware about the happening of the world. But he feels very dejected when he looks at the mannerisms and behavior patterns of the present generation. He sends out a message saying the world today is ‘horribly’ competitive and people have to understand the need to be best at what they do. They can’t simply get lured into random distractions. It is here where he is proud to be from a generation which is value and tradition bound and knows where to draw the line.

Every preceding generation learns something from the following generation. Stagnant thoughts and actions cannot be the reason for the development of any generation. Hence, believing in the old generation and improvising the ideas of the new generation should be the order of the society.

Wonderful post by Deeksha Awasthi (Exclusive writer for The Manipal Journal and The amPlus)This article was shared by amPlus and I'm honored to have this article here.Thank you Deekhsha...Keep Writing